The “gathering of 12” which meets every month at the Gaditan Casino, chaired by Miguel Nuche, was attended on this occasion by the Special Delegate of the State in the Free Trade Zone, Jorge Ramos, who presented the Southern European Logistics Platform.
The meeting was attended by the mayor of Cádiz, Teófila Martínez, the subdelegate of the Government, Javier de Torre, the delegate of the Tax Agency, Ignacio Martínez, councilors of the city councils of Cádiz and Jerez, Bruno García, Ignacio Romaní and Antonio Saldaña.
Among the participants were operators from the port and export/import sector, consignees, customs agents and businessmen and professionals from the world of law.
Accompanying your presentation with a digital slide presentation summarizing the project –presentation that was presented during the Forum -, Ramos has been breaking down the strengths that make up the Southern European Logistics Platform, focusing on the location and privileged situation as a gateway to Western markets and how the province is projected as a logistics base for American and Asian products to Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
The delegate of the Free Zone has detailed that the project is prepared to attract part of the commercial flows from America and Asia, which enter the European Union in more than 80% through the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg, a situation that occurs due to the lack of knowledge of the existence of the Southern European Logistics Platform, its infrastructure and its competitive advantages to operate by reducing costs and times for logistics operators.
Ramos explained that a province like Cádiz, which has three reference airports close to the two ports of Cádiz and Algeciras, with a good network of highways and unexploited possibilities for rail transport, the beginning and end of three infrastructure corridors such as the Atlantic towards the northwest of Spain, the central one with projection to Western Europe and the Mediterranean towards Europe and Eastern Europe, to the south of Europe and facing North Africa, is undoubtedly a logistical space. important.
More than 25 million square meters of usable land between the Bay of Cádiz (10 million), Algeciras (11 million) and the Jerez area (4 million) offer a reference space compared to the traditional logistics areas of northern Europe.
Its strategic location on the border of southern Europe and the border of the Mediterranean connects with the main distribution networks and also enjoys the presence of the Free Zone with customs and tax advantages.
The delegate also announced, as significant data, the figures for the passage of ships on the main routes between America and the Mediterranean and the Asian area in relation to the traffic of the Strait of Gibraltar, recalling that in 2012 14,544 ships crossed the Panama Canal, 17,525 ships crossed the Suez Canal and 133,528 ships sailed through the strait, which curiously do not "pay tolls."” some to cross the strait.
The mayor, for her part, highlighted the common initiative with the three city councils, Cádiz, Jerez and Algeciras, the Provincial Council and the Free Trade Zone, which work with the Ministry of Development and, in this sense, announced the holding in Cádiz of a forum with experts and businessmen from the foreign trade sector as well as a meeting also in Cádiz of the Ibero-American commercial attachés in Spain and accredited attachés in Ibero-American countries, advocating that this kinds of initiatives are in favor of small and medium-sized companies that do not have large business infrastructures to rely on.
Teófila Martínez offered collaboration with the entire network of Latin American cities that have come to Cádiz on the occasion of the Bicentennial such as Santos, Veracruz, Callao, Panama, Santo Domingo, etc.
The meeting concluded with an interesting debate on the topic among attendees.